1. Field of the Invention
The present embodiments relate generally to laser systems and more particularly to wavelength beam combining systems and methods.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wavelength beam combining (WBC) is a method for scaling the output power and brightness from laser diode bars, stacks of diode bars, as well as other lasers arranged in one or two-dimensional array.
WBC methods have been developed to combine beams along the slow dimension of each emitter as well as the fast dimension of each emitter. See for example, U.S. Pat Nos. 6,192,062, 6,208,679 and 2010/0110556 A1. In prior patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,192,062 and 6,208,679, beam combining is performed along the array dimension. As such, the external cavity is more sensitive to imperfections in the laser elements. Furthermore, when broad-area laser elements are used the spectral utilization is poor. In prior art 2010/0110556 A1 beam combining is performed along the stacking dimension. In such implementations the external-cavity is much less sensitive to imperfections in laser elements. Furthermore, since beam combining is performed along the stacking dimension or near diffraction-limited dimension spectral utilization is high. However, the brightness of these systems may not be optimal because of optical cross-coupling between emitters.
The following application seeks to solve the problems stated.